New Chelsea signing’s battle to start begins now – time to break the curse | OneFootball

It’s the 9th day in June – time to check out how our number 9 is getting on this month.

Well, it’s an interesting one given we have only just picked up our new number 9. Liam Delap signed last week, did his first interview, has a few days off, then flies out to the USA with the team to play his first games.

Delap’s competition with Nicolas Jackson starts now

Liam Delap’s signing photo for Chelsea. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC)

We’re not sure what to expect from him in terms of minutes. He won’t have had long to train with his teammates, but we expect major, major rotation through the group stage, so it feels likely he starts at least one game in that stage of the tournament, with Nicolas Jackson pretty fresh after a suspension which ended his league season early.

The competition between the two of them to be Enzo Maresca’s main striker starts now – and should drive them both on to great things.

Given the relatively weak opposition in the group stage, that should mean a perfect chance for Delap to bag his first (semi) competitive goal for the club before the month is out.

Delap in position to break Chelsea’s number 9 “curse”

As has been pointed out since Delap took the number 9, it doesn’t have a great history. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Romelu Lukaku were the last two players to wear it.

Before them was Tammy Abraham – who was hard done by in hindsight looking at his predecessors – Gonzalo Higuain, Alvaro Morata, Radamel Falcao, Fernando Torres, Franco Di Santo…

Young Delap looks like he has a great chance to score more than any of those players, and he can start in the Club World Cup.